Chapter 6 - The Eviction of Pride
By Friday morning, the facade of Ethan Miller’s perfect suburban life had completely disintegrated.
He slept on the couch in his suit, too terrified to enter the master bedroom. At 7:30 AM, a flatbed tow truck pulled into the driveway, its yellow lights flashing against the morning fog.
Ethan rushed out to the front yard in his socks, screaming at the tow truck driver as his beloved red Porsche 911 was winched onto the back of the bed.
"You can't take this car! This is my vehicle!" Ethan yelled, waving his hands frantically.
The driver didn't even look at him. He held up a signed repossession order from the corporate leasing agency. "Guarantor revoked payment line, sir. Take it up with the bank."
Neighbors were standing on their front porches, holding coffee mugs, watching the high-flying senior vice president get stripped of his prized possession in broad daylight.
Inside the house, Sarah packed the children’s backpacks with quiet efficiency.
Ethan burst back through the front door, his eyes wide, his hair disheveled, looking completely unraveled.
"Are you happy now?!" he shouted, his voice cracking with humiliation. "The entire neighborhood saw that! My boss called me ten minutes ago—I’ve been placed on administrative leave pending an internal compliance investigation because of your lawyer's filings!"
"I didn't do that to you, Ethan," Sarah said, adjusting Lily’s jacket. "Your greed did that to you."
"I made a mistake!" Ethan pleaded, falling to his knees near the kitchen island, his composure entirely gone. "It was just sex, Sarah! It didn't mean anything! I love you! I love our family! Please, just unfreeze the primary checking account so I can pay the mortgage and hire a lawyer!"
"You didn't think about the mortgage when you spent $8,000 on a diamond necklace for Lauren last month," Sarah said softly. "You didn't think about our family when you told her you were going to leave me after the kids finished elementary school."
Ethan’s eyes widened. "How... how do you know about that?"
"I read your text messages, Ethan," Sarah said. "All of them."
She picked up her purse, took Leo and Lily by the hand, and walked toward the garage door.
"Where are you going?" Ethan panicked, scrambling up from the floor to follow her.
"I’m taking the kids to my mother’s house in Vermont for the week," Sarah said, unlocking the SUV. "Victoria will be serving you with the formal divorce papers at noon. You have thirty days to vacate this house."
"This is my house!" Ethan roared.
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"The deed is in my trust’s name, Ethan," Sarah reminded him, looking back over her shoulder. "My father bought this house for us as a wedding gift. You signed the pre-nuptial waiver releasing all claims to the physical real estate eight years ago when you needed to clean up your credit profile."
Ethan stood paralyzed in the garage as the automatic door slid slowly downward, sealing him inside the cold, dark concrete space.
